


One Night

by InkyJustine



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Chuck Lives, Crack, Drunken Shenanigans, Fix-It, Hangover, M/M, Morning After, Oblivious Raleigh, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-29 00:21:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14461014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyJustine/pseuds/InkyJustine
Summary: Raleigh woke up with a dog standing on his bladder, Chuck Hansen's breath fanning over his collarbone and naked as the day he was born. As far as mornings went it was a lot to take in at once.





	One Night

**Author's Note:**

> None of this makes sense but I'm tired of looking at it so have it (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> Partially inspired by a kink meme prompt from 2013.

Raleigh woke up with a dog standing on his bladder, Chuck Hansen's breath fanning over his collarbone and naked as the day he was born.

As far as mornings went it was a lot to take in at once. Especially since his head felt like it was being split in two. He groaned. Chuck stirred, but didn’t wake. Instead the other ranger only nuzzled his nose against Raleigh’s throat and burrowed deeper into the covers. Raleigh would have appreciate the cute display more if his head didn’t feel like it was trying to come loose from his shoulders. 

His stomach turned when he moved and he flailed ineffectively at the dog with one free arm, the other trapped under Chuck's chest and not of much help. Unfortunately _Max_ only saw it as an invitation to slobber all over his face.

"Gnn," Raleigh said, with which he meant to say 'stop' and Max seemed to interpret as ‘go on’.

After a moment which involved more doggy spit than Raleigh was comfortable with, he finally managed to get him to back off. Max's tongue lolled out of his snout and his small stump of a tail wagged furiously. Someone was happy. What a shame it wasn't Raleigh.

He took stock, because he wasn't in much of a position to do anything else, doubly trapped as he was under Chuck's and Max' combined weight. Even if he had been able to get up, he probably would have puked the moment his body was vertical.

After all he already felt like throwing up while laying down.

It felt early, but the clock on his night table told him it was around noon and his bladder agreed that it had been enough hours since he’d last relieved himself. Clothes covered the floor, leading an uneven path from door to bed. Raleigh's eyes trailed from them to the man lying half on top of him.

Chuck looked disconcertingly adorable when he slept. Raleigh could _feel_ that Chuck was naked against him, even if the clothes hadn't clued him in on that already. One of his bare legs was thrown over Raleigh’s and Raleigh could distinctly feel _certain_ other body parts press against his hip. He just wished he could actually remember how they came to be in this state.

Drinking had been involved. Certainly. The only alternative was that Chuck had hit him on the head and dragged him to _Raleigh's_ room for some ravishing and while Chuck was an arrogant asshole that seemed rather unlike him. And it was Raleigh's room. His pictures were on the wall. Briefly his gaze stuck on the photo of him and Yancy. Like always.

Raleigh closed his eyes, tried to focus and _remember_. They had closed the Breach. Four Jaegers working together for a second time. Pentecost had done well to send Gipsy and Striker into the fight against Leatherback and Slattern early a few days prior. And it still almost _hadn't_ been enough when Scunner had damaged the release of the thermonuclear bomb.

Raleigh exhaled at the memory, trapped arm momentarily twitching underneath Chuck and making him grumble in his sleep.

They had lost Striker. Stacker and Chuck had gone through the portal with Slattern’s body to detonate inside the Breach and meanwhile Gipsy, Cherno and Typhoon had stayed behind. It had felt like a lifetime, pacing the ocean bed. None of them had spoken. The world had held its breath in that moment, waiting.

Chuck's escape pod had surfaced first, followed by Stacker's. Raleigh wasn't a religious man, but whatever gods there were they must have smiled on them that day, because no casualties had to be mourned. None of their rangers had died. It was a miracle and the whole world had celebrated the defeat of the Kaiju and the return of their heroes.

It explained the state of Raleigh's head.

It only partially explained Chuck in his bed.

It certainly didn't explain why Max was still standing on his bladder. Especially as his bladder didn't like that and urged Raleigh to do something before an accident happened. To make the whole confusing situation embarrassing to boot, Raleigh's cock was stiff under the blanket.

Max was heavy, but after a bit of coaxing and a lot of shooing Raleigh managed to convince him to get off and curl into his master's chest, sliding Raleigh and Chuck apart in the process. Chuck let out another grumble, but still didn't wake. Just as well. Raleigh didn't feel like having a morning after conversation with him. Carefully he slid out from under Chuck's arm and shuffled into the bathroom, without turning on the light, to relieve himself. Awkwardly, he bend over the toilet bowl, angled his cock down and hoped he wouldn't miss.

When he came back out, Chuck was sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to him, lower body clad in pants and eyes trained on the photos on the wall.

Raleigh may not remember the last night, but the state of Chuck's back was giving him some inklings alright. There were bite marks and fingershaped bruises as low as his tailbone. Raleigh swallowed, rubbed a hand over his face as if that could wipe away the haze in his head. Then he sat down on the other side of the bed.

At the dip of the mattress, Chuck turned towards him, expression unreadable. Or maybe Raleigh was just still too hungover to decipher it. There was a thump and Max came waddling around the bed to bump up against his legs. Then Chuck reached out to him.

It was strange. Chuck carded his fingers through Raleigh's hair, which was probably already dishevelled enough, before he tugged at a strand, oddly gentle.

"You're going gray, old man."

Raleigh's jaw slacked. He was still searching for a reply when Chuck got to his feet, put on his shirt and walked out the door with Max at his heels and a lazy wave. There was a slight limb to his steps.

"See you later, _Rah_ leigh."

_What the Hell?_

 

Raleigh sat on the bed a little longer, mind utterly blank, before he chucked some painkillers and took a shower. He took his time getting dressed so as not to upset his stomach.

There were no gray hairs when he checked in the mirror and he glared at himself.

 

A disconcerting number of heads turned to look at him when he entered the mess hall. His steps slowed, but he managed not to duck his head at least. The last time this many people had looked at him, he and Mako had almost blown up the Shatterdome during their first drift and his memory may be hazy but nothing like that had happened last night.

What the hell had he and Chuck done then?

Raleigh ignored the looks to the best of his abilities, wishing himself back to his quarters, as he made his way over to where Hercules and Mako were sitting. Chuck was there, too, right beside Mako and with his back to Raleigh. Maybe it was for the best that Chuck ignored him when he sat down. Chuck being rude was almost comforting in its own way, just Chuck being Chuck while everyone around them couldn’t keep their eyes to themself. At least it made it easy to handle their little one time fling.

In contrast, the others greeted him with varying degrees of enthusiasm, although Hercules seemed to elbow Tendo in the side when Raleigh sat down. He was sure he had seen it out of the corner of his eyes. Or maybe it had only been his imagination. Tendo looked like he was nursing a hangover. In fact, everyone sitting at the table looked like it with the exception of Stacker, who hadn't been allowed to drink due to his injuries and medication.

"Pretty good party last night," Tendo said with a grin and blood-shot eyes. There was a twinkle in them, too. Raleigh couldn't place it, leaving him off-balance. As if he was missing the punchline to a joke.

On Mako’s other side, Chuck's ears turned red.

So they knew. Raleigh threw a glance Chuck's way. He would have expected him to boast more. Alright, he hadn’t really thought about what Chuck’s post-one night stand behavior would be like, least of all with him. His thoughts had just occasionally drifted to what Chuck looked like naked. _And he couldn’t even remember that._

Sitting opposite him, Hercules' face was as unreadable as Stacker's.

"So how many rounds did you two go?"

Raleigh did his best not to slap his palm against his face, keeping his face neutral, but he flinched when Chuck suddenly slammed his hands against the tabletop. Newt jumped harder, face paling at the furious expression Chuck aimed at him before he stalked out of the hall.

"What's his problem?" Newt asked, voice brittle. Raleigh shrugged. His own eyes were on Hercules. Just for a moment the other ranger had looked like he was going to say something (like 'What are your intentions with my son') before he shook his head and turned back to his food. But there was a look in his eyes, just for a moment, that Raleigh couldn't decipher. There was a lot that Raleigh couldn’t seem to decipher today. He was going to go back to bed.

Belatedly Raleigh noticed that he was sweating.

Hercules raised his head. "Hey Raleigh-"

Raleigh's heart nearly stopped in his chest. Surely Hercules wasn't _actually_ going to give him a lecture where everyone could see, or just jump straight to ripping him a new one.

"-can you pass the potatoes, please?"

A little laugh burst out of Raleigh. Beside him Mako laughed _at him_ and everything went back to usual.

Maybe there were too many witnesses around. Raleigh could only guess.

 

"You and the little Hansen would be a good fit," Sasha told him a day later, while they hung out close to Cherno.

Raleigh looked up at her. A moment before they had been talking about the repairs being done on the Jaegers and compared Gipsy and Cherno during a little break. And now this. Since the question came out of the blue so Raleigh pointed out the obvious.

"Chuck barely talks to me." Hadn't even so much as looked at Raleigh in fact, since they had woken up in the same bed, which was a shame because Raleigh would have liked to ask him how much he remembered. Too bad they weren’t drift compatible or Chuck could have shared the memory with him. Too bad Chuck wasn’t even talking to him. On the contrary, Raleigh was learning what active avoidance looked like. 

Sasha nodded, as if that explained everything. "Sometimes love doesn't need many words."

_What the hell?_

Raleigh shook his head. "I doubt Chuck loves me," he said. The only one Chuck seemed to love was Max and perhaps his father.

Sasha shrugged and shared a meaningful look with her husband. Why was everyone so obsessed with Chuck and him all of the sudden?

 

Raleigh avoided anyone he knew on his way to the Kwoon. A fight would do him well, let off some steam after… well everything. He needed space.

The scratches on his back stung when he moved and he wished he could remember how he'd gotten them. Oh he knew _what_ he'd done and who gave them to him. He just wanted to remember the details. Raleigh couldn't help but wonder what Chuck looked like in the throes of sex and Raleigh evidently had seen it. He just couldn’t imagine Chuck without his usual scowl or indifferent expression.

Raleigh rubbed a hand down his face.

Further down the corridor, Mako was talking to Hercules. When they caught sight of him, they stopped and beckoned him over with a smile. Well, Mako was smiling anyway, but Hercules looked friendly enough. Raleigh wished he could shake the wrong-footed feeling that haunted him ever since he'd woken up with Chuck in his bed.

"There are good news, Raleigh," Mako told him when he drew level with them. He smiled back at her, stopping.

"There are?"

Hercules nodded. "The program isn't going to be closed. We will get new Jaegers. A replacement for Striker Eureka at least."

"Chuck will be happy about that," Raleigh said. The thought stung, blind-siding him. For just a moment *that** morning Chuck had looked happy and then it had all gone. Raleigh wanted… it didn’t matter. He just had to decide if he still wanted to be a part of the program. Chuck surely wouldn't leave. Raleigh couldn't imagine him anywhere else, unlike himself.

A curious look crossed Hercules' face and Raleigh quickly turned to Mako before he could have *that** talk with his one night stand’s father.

"I wanted to work out, do you feel like sparring?"

A momentary glance to Hercules and then Mako nodded. "We will talk later, Hercules," she said.

Raleigh breathed a little easier once the old ranger was out of sight.

 

"Hey _Rah_ leigh, care for a rematch?"

All Raleigh wanted was some goddamn peace and quiet and his memory to stop drawing a blank every time he tried to remember. This day was unsettling, they all where since _that_ night. Everywhere he went people were _whispering_ and stopped as soon as they saw him.

Raleigh waved him off. "Maybe some other time, _Charles_."

Of course that was only bound to rile Chuck up. He got right up in Raleigh's face, blue eyes flashing. "Afraid to lose, old man?" The smile on his face resembled a sneer and Raleigh would have liked nothing more than to wipe it off, with a fist or a kiss or- 

He took a deep breath to compose himself and picked up his staff again.

They met in the middle of the mat and began, wood clashing on wood. Chuck was a brawler, but Raleigh was faster. He fought like Raleigh had personally offended him, which was probably why he fought so sloppily. Raleigh knew they were otherwise evenly matched, if Chuck could keep his cool.

A bruise blossomed on Raleigh’s shoulder and he countered the next hit. A minute later found Chuck on his back, a puzzled look on his face as he stared up at Raleigh straddling him. It was a good look on him, Raleigh had to admit. But then Chuck was a handsome asshole that Raleigh wanted to kiss him. 

The staff dug into the side of Chuck's neck while Raleigh sat astride, keeping him on the ground. Raleigh watched his expression change. Chuck's lips parted and like a magnet Raleigh's eyes were dragged to them. His mind wandered. A memory inched forward-

"Lovebirds, how about a match two against three?" one of the Wei Tang brothers said. Raleigh thought it was Jin and wordlessly cursed him. 

The back of his neck heated up as Raleigh climbed off Chuck and held out his hand. Chuck stared at it, then at Raleigh, but his grip was strong as he finally took the offered help. Whatever Raleigh had expected, he hadn't expected Chuck to come up so easily. Their chests bumped when he pulled with a little too much force and it must have been his imagination that Chuck's ears flushed a lovely shade of pink. Had to be, but Raleigh felt a little hot as well.

Working _with_ Chuck proved to be even better than working against him. Raleigh could almost imagine they were drift compatible after all.

 

On his way to breakfast the next morning, Newt fell into step beside him. Raleigh glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and nodded a good morning. They hadn't had the best of starts and really hadn't had contact with each other beyond that.

"Say, Raleigh, if you don't mind me asking, are you going to ask Chuck out? Say, in the next week?" Newt asked, his usual over-excited self interlaced with latent worry.

Raleigh's steps slowed and he blinked at Newt who shifted on the spot. "No," he said slowly. Then he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Newt rubbed the back of his head. "Just, simple curiosity. Among friends- co-workers! That sort of thing. Nothing important at all." He looked over Raleigh's shoulder, clearly flustered. His eyes widened. "Oh there's Herman over there, gotta go, bye!"

He rushed away and Raleigh made his way slowly to the mess hall. Whatever had been in the drinks during the party, everyone seemed to have gone crazy. Even Stacker Pentecost had been giving him calculating looks and Raleigh was just proven right when he heard Chuck shouting just as he was about to round the corner.

"I'm not interested in Raleigh Becket for fuck's sake!"

Raleigh rounded the corner and there they were, Chuck and Aleksis. His heart sank. Well, great, that certainly cleared up why Chuck had been avoiding him. He heard Aleksis say something calm in Russian that he didn't understand while Chuck stormed away in Raleigh's direction, glaring at Aleksis over his shoulder. 

Chuck shouted something back in Russian and while Raleigh didn't quite catch that either he could recognize an insult when he heard it. At least Chuck had the decency to flush when he caught sight of Raleigh, but then the blush morphed into a glare and he rammed his shoulder hard enough into Raleigh's to smart for an hour afterwards as he stalked past.

Raleigh looked at Aleksis in question, rubbing his shoulder and feeling hurt beyond reason.

Aleksis shrugged. "Hansens," he said, as if that explained everything.

 

It didn't.

 

Things calmed down a little the next few days. People went back to normal, or at least as normal as they managed, and the parts for Striker's replacement arrived so everyone was busy and Raleigh was walking down the hall when Max came bounding towards him with something in his mouth.

Max stopped in front of him, wagging the stump of his tail.

"What do you have there, Max?" Raleigh said with a smile. He knelt and held out his hand and after some coaxing, Max let something drop into his palm.

It was a chocolate bar. Or rather half of one. Evidently Max had been chewing on it it seemed but Raleigh could just make out the brand enough to recognize that it was one of his own favorites.

Max nudged his knee and Raleigh petted him. "Thanks, boy."

He wasn't going to eat that. It had dog slobber all over it so he threw it away.

 

"Something on your mind?" Raleigh asked Mako as they sparred. Their staffs clashed together, but Mako's heart wasn't in it. Raleigh could tell. In fact she seemed distracted. When she focused she could have him on his back within minutes.

He raised a brow at her and she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes before she swept his feet out from under him as if she had read his mind. Hell, maybe she had. Then she helped him back up.

"I was just thinking," she said.

"I noticed," Raleigh said. He waited, staff held at the ready. They traded a few blows.

Mako cocked her head to the side. "Have you talked to Chuck lately?"

Raleigh shook his head. Why did everyone keep asking that? They had only slept together once and Raleigh couldn't even remember it.

"Do you like him?" Mako asked and Raleigh had no answer for her.

 

Raleigh had asked himself that, too, and he still wasn't sure. He certainly wanted to kiss him, that much was clear. They had both started working on the new Jaeger. Chuck because it was going to be his and Raleigh because he didn't have anything else to do and liked the physicality of it. Besides, he was still making up his mind about whether or not to stay in the program. Welding pieces of a new Jaeger together or laying the wiring was good enough to keep him busy until he made up his mind.

To his surprise, Chuck was rather knowledgeable about the indepth workings of the giant machines, discussing things Raleigh had only heard of in passing with the other technicians. Raleigh found himself lingering close by, listening in on what was said and learning quite a bit in the process.

Chuck truly had grown up among the Jaegers.

It made him curious, but Raleigh still kept to himself for the most part. He liked the quiet and being away from people, although the workshop and halls of the Shatterdome were the least practical place for either of that. Still. It was nice even if Chuck sometimes ordered him around, giving him other things to do. And all throughout Max slept in a little doggy bed in the corner, occasionally petted by whomever happened to pass by. Which was usually Chuck.

It was cute. 

Raleigh felt his gaze linger more often than not.

At some point Max waddled over to him and nudged his leg, carrying a ball in his mouth. So far, Raleigh had watched him try that with three other technicians.

"I'm a little busy, Max," he said and tried to shove Max a little out of the way of the sparks from his welding tool. His fur was pretty short, but still probably rather flammable.

Max didn't seem to care. He nudged Raleigh again, a little harder this time and Raleigh turned off the welder before he did irreparable damage. Max looked at him and dropped the ball, wagging his short tail.

Raleigh sighed. "Max-"

Keeping soulful eyes on him, Max picked up the ball, nudged Raleigh and dropped it again in plaintive invitation. When Raleigh looked up, Chuck was watching them with an unreadable expression. Not angry, but... curious? It was hard to tell sometimes.

Finally, when Max insistently nudged him for the sixth time, Raleigh picked up the ball and threw it. Max bounded after it as fast as his short legs allowed and Raleigh turned back to his work.

A few minutes later, Max nudged him again, slobbery ball lying on the ground beside Raleigh's feet. With a laugh Raleigh threw it again and gave up on his work for the day.

 

"Say, dude, do you need pointers?" Newt asked him, keeping pace with him.

Raleigh raised a brow and slowed down enough to give Newt his full attention, with the effect that Newt got nervous. Or at least more nervous than usual.

"Pointers about what?" Raleigh asked. He cocked his head, wondering where Chuck was at this time of day.

Newt shrugged and pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants only to pull them out a moment later and cross them over his chest. "About asking Chuck out."

"No." With that out of the way, Raleigh turned his back and walked away.

Newt called after him. "That's so rude, man! I'm just trying to be helpful."

 

The weeks, until the Jaeger was ready for its first drift, passed like days and instead of Chuck and Hercules Hansen, it was Mako and Raleigh who were ordered to try it out.

Judging by the way Chuck glared at him it could have almost made Raleigh think it was his fault, but it was Mako's and he told Chuck as much before he ran off with a huff.

"What are we doing here?" he asked Mako when they stood in the conn-pod which by rights should have held Chuck and his father. Gipsy was still in working order, if grown a little dusty.

Opposite him, Mako looked at him more innocently than was normal for her. It immediately made Raleigh suspicious. People were still being _weird_. He had just thought Mako was the exception.

"We are going to test the Jaeger," she said, "What do you mean?" Too casually, she fingered the controls. Mako Mori was an abysmal liar. Raleigh pointed around them.

"This is Chuck's Jaeger, and Hercules'. What are we doing here?"

Mako's back straightened. "The Marshal wants us to try it out. Herc's arm still isn't fully healed."

In Raleigh's opinion, Herc wouldn't have let that stop him since this wasn't a life-or-death mission requiring a healthy arm, but he held his tongue. Besides, he'd seen Hercules lift a couple of crates just the other day. His shoulders slumped. They were just going to try if the systems all worked. Alright. He would let it go, for now, he decided as LOCCENT told them to get ready.

Before the Neural Handshake initialized, Mako turned to him.

"Raleigh, I know we're not supposed to chase the rabbit," she said, "but I want to show you something."

The Neural Handshake initialized before Raleigh could say anything in return. Their minds merged and he _felt_ it when Mako pushed a memory his way. Without thinking about it, Raleigh grabbed it and-

 

_He's in the mess hall. They won, the Breach is closed and it's bittersweet. The world saved but the future of the program uncertain. Maybe he won't see these people again in a few months' time._

_It's Mako's thought, not Raleigh's. He hasn't really thought about it like that, but now it makes him sad._

_He watches as Mako sits down at the table, looks at himself sitting beside her. Does he always look so serious? It feels weird, like an out of body experience, literally._

_There is drinking. Music is playing and Aleksis is dancing with Sasha on the dancefloor. The triplets have grabbed a technician each. Raleigh remembers all this. It's the later night he's uncertain about._

_Across the hall he sees Chuck drinking, joking with someone and then he gets up and crosses the hall. To Raleigh’s surprise he looks nervous. He’s never seen him look like that. He looks nervous right up until he sits down beside Raleigh, when his expression turns into something closer to a leer._

_They're both pretty drunk._

_Chuck whispers something into his ear Raleigh doesn't catch because Mako didn't catch it but whatever it was Chuck is kissing him after when Raleigh nods._

_Hercules looks down at his plate, Stacker to the side. Mako giggles and then Chuck is pulling him up by the collar, still necking like teens. Raleigh flushes a little when Chuck and his own counterpart nearly fall to the floor trying to get their legs untangled from the bench and-_

 

The memory tangled with his own, dredged up what the alcohol had so neatly wrapped in mist and Raleigh fell, pulled Mako into his memory.

 

_Raleigh gets to his feet to everyone's amusement, lips locked with Hercules’ son. Chuck's mouth is amazing, combined with the alcohol enough to cover the embarrassment as they stumble from the hall. He loses his shirt somewhere in a corridor and Chuck his jacket._

_They're laughing when they burst into Raleigh's room and Chuck pushes him down onto the bed-_

 

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Raleigh said, sweating in his drivesuit when the memory finally passed through them and they came out into the drift, the quiet place.

Mako smiled, face still flushed. "You two seemed happy."

 _We were piss drunk_ , Raleigh wanted to point out. "We just cancelled the apocalypse," he settled on instead.

"It was more than that and you know it," Mako returned, frown on her face now and Raleigh looked forward, glaring at the controls.

"I don't even know if I will stay in the program." He felt Mako's shock through their bond. "It's not going to happen."

 

It was probably too much to ask for Mako to let it go, Raleigh wondered the next day when she stood in front of his door, determination on her face.

"Come with me," she said, which he hoped was a request between friends but sounded more like an order.

Raleigh waved to his bare chest. "Can I put on a shirt first?"

Mako smiled and ducked her head, looking away as if she hadn't noticed it. "If you have to."

She flushed and they laughed and Raleigh threw on a shirt before he followed her. She lead him through the maze of corridors which was the Shatterdome until they came to an unassuming door. Raleigh had probably passed it before. Mako entered before him and Raleigh followed and-

_what the hell they were squeezed into a closet._

The door closed and Raleigh raised a brow at her.

"I hope you don't think me and Chuck are literally in the closet about things," Raleigh said, reading her mind.

A laugh escaped Mako before she grew serious. "I only want the best for you."

Raleigh made a show of looking around them. There were cleaning supplies. It smelled like disinfectant and citrus.

Mako went on as if they weren't squeezed into a closet. As if there was nothing abnormal about this whole situation. "You shouldn't be afraid to tell Chuck how you feel."

"Mako, there is nothing to tell. I don't know if I'll stay and I wouldn't string him along even if Chuck was interested."

"You don't think he is?" There was surprise in her voice as if Chuck was _obvious_ about what he felt.

Raleigh raised a brow at her. "We barely talk and if we do, he insults me. The only one I’ve interacted with is Max."

Mako nodded. "He can be difficult like that-"

"Tell me about it."

"- but so can you," she finished as if he hadn't spoken.

Raleigh stared at her. Outside, steps came closer and bringing voices with them, which sounded familiar. Mako looked at him. "I'm only doing this for you, Raleigh."

As if on cue and before Raleigh could get over his surprise, the door opened, revealing Chuck and Hercules. In a move that by right should have been impossible, Mako reversed positions with Chuck until _he_ was the one pressed into the tiny space between Raleigh's chest and the shelves opposite him. Then the door closed.

A tiny click was heard. Raleigh didn't even bother trying to open the door.

Chuck sighed in defeat. They were really close to each other, chests pressing against each other each time one of them took a breath.

"We will let you out later," Hercules said, voice muffled through the door.

"After you figure it out," Mako added.

Silence spread out between them as outside the steps faded away. Chuck and Raleigh stared at each other in the dark.

"Figure out what?" burst out of Chuck a while later. As far as Raleigh was concerned, he could stand to sound less hostile.

Raleigh sighed. "They mean us." Fuck figuring out the future, he should have just left a week ago.

Chuck shook his head in blatant confusion. "What about us? There is no us." He scoffed.

"Exactly."

The fell silent. Raleigh wished he didn't notice how he liked the way Chuck smelled. Chuck took a deep breath and Raleigh wished they had a clock to see how much time had passed. A closet wasn't the most comfortable of places to be trapped in. Though he supposed it could be worse.

"I'm sorry. I like you, alright?" Chuck said.

Raleigh's heart stopped for a moment. The room tilted. "Are you apologizing for liking me?" Raleigh demanded, regaining his mental footing.

Chuck let out a huff, as if Raleigh had said something stupid. "No. You're not old and you're not getting gray hairs, ok?"

None of this was making sense. Raleigh laughed.

"I used to be your biggest fan, you know?" Chuck's voice was quiet, as if he was letting Raleigh in onto a shameful secret.

"What do you mean?"

Chuck shifted, distracting Raleigh momentarily. "When you and Yancy still piloted," Chuck said, "I had a lot of posters, of you."

Raleigh tilted his head, smiling. "Even a figure of Gipsy?" He had always found the fan culture surrounding the Jaegers and Kaiju silly, even when he had been treated like a rockstar. It had been cool at the time. The thought of little Chuck looking up to him was cute and not compatible with the sulky man who antagonized him when he first returned.

"I had all of them," Chuck said, sounding sullen.

Raleigh dipped his head. "And now you hate me."

He felt Chuck shift and then Chuck's hand slapped his chest and stayed there. "I don't hate you." A frustrated sigh followed. "I became a Jaeger almost the _day_ you left. There was finally a chance to meet you and you ran."

Raleigh's mouth dropped open and Chuck continued. "It was as if you leaving cursed the program. We started losing."

"We lost Jaegers against the Kaiju before," Raleigh said.

Chuck didn't seem to be able to decide if he should nod or shake his head. He did both. Raleigh's hand came up to cover Chuck's almost all by itself. "Never like this," Chuck said, "Never so often."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I know that now."

Raleigh reached out and squeezed Chuck's arm. And then somehow his hand trailed down and then he was holding Chuck's hand instead, Chuck's other still pressed against his heart.

"I don't really know how to do this," Raleigh admitted.

"And you think I do? Shit, Raleigh, I'm 21 and I've never been in a relationship and-"

Raleigh interrupted him. "Me neither." There just had never been time and then his brother had died and-

The moment felt brittle, like a fork in the road, balancing on the edge of a coin and Raleigh had no idea which way they would fall.

But they would fall.

Raleigh took a deep breath. Somehow in the dark some things were easier to say than others. "I have trouble letting people close."

Chuck laughed softly, self-conscious. "You're not the only one."

Silence spread between them until Chuck spoke again, sounding cautious. "I would be willing to try- if- for you."

Raleigh nodded. Words had left him, leaving him stranded. He'd never been very good with them anyway. Yancy had told him once that he never went for what he wanted.

The coin tilted. 

Time to prove him wrong.

Chuck leaned forward when Raleigh leaned in, bridging the distance between them. Their nose clashed awkwardly, Chuck whispered an apology, appalled, and Raleigh framed Chuck's face with his hands and tilted it _this_ way while he tilted his own head _that_ way and their mouth slotted neatly over each other and while it wasn't the best executed kiss it was pretty damn perfect anyway.

Raleigh opened his mouth a little and Chuck mimicked him and wow it was better than the memory he had shared with Mako in the drift.

They kissed until they were breathless and then they kissed a little more.

 

After a while the door opened, leaving Raleigh to blink against the sudden light. Mako smiled, Hercules' mouth opened-

"Excuse us, we're kinda busy here," Chuck said and closed the door in their face.

A laugh burst out of Raleigh and Chuck leaned in to kiss him again.

 

Just on the edge of his hearing, words drifted to Raleigh. He didn't pay much attention to them, busy as he was exploring Chuck's _everything_. Pressed together as they were in the tight space, there was a lot of him in easy reach.

The conversation going on outside went a little like this:

"This is cheating," Newt said, voice loud to make himself heard, and gesturing wildly, "No one ever said we could just literally lock them in a room!"

"No wonder you won," one of the triplets said, probably Jin as he often voiced what the other two were thinking. He sounded as sullen as the other two looked.

"Newt, you tried to give Raleigh pointers," Mako said and Hercules added, "And Aleksis and Sasha tried to intervene as well."

Newt sputtered. "That is hardly the same thing as _putting them in a closet_." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked to Hermann for help who clicked his cane against the ground.

"Be quiet Newton," Hermann said, keeping his face serious, "and in your own words: Pay up, man."

There was a indignant cry from Newton. “You were in on this, Hermann?”


End file.
